This interesting and unusual name with variant spelling "stoyle", found widespread in Yorkshire derives from the Medieval English word "stoyle" from the Old French word "estoile", a star which possibly denoted a person with a streck of white hair or someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a star or may be a person who studied stars and astrology. The surname may have been introduced into England after the Norman Conquest and first appears in records at the end of the late 12th Century, (see below). One Eliot Stoyle was recorded in the Curia Rolls of Kent in 1210. John Stoile was christened at St. Botolph in Lincoln on July 25th 1569, while at the same church Francis, son of Robert Stoyles was christened in 1578. At Linton in Craven, Yorkshire, Rosamond, daughter of John Stoiles was christened on November 13th 1615. Ann Stoyles married James Grounsell at Alverstoke on December 25th 1812. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Stoile, which was dated 1194, in the Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.